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Lead in your lipstick?

The Times just released an article the other day about lead in lipsticks.

Your favorite shade of Marilyn Monroe red may contain lead, according to a recently updated test of lipstick by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The agency found that 400 popular lipsticks contained trace amounts of the toxin.

Yikes!

The FDA first began testing for lead in lipsticks in response to pressure from the consumer group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, whose own 2007 test of 33 lipsticks found lead in most of them. The group has long called on the FDA to set a lead limit for lipstick, but the agency has resisted, saying that the amount of the toxin found in lipstick poses no risk to consumers, especially since so little of the makeup is actually ingested by wearers.

“We do not consider the lead levels we found in the lipsticks to be a safety concern. The lead levels we found are within the limits recommended by other public health authorities for lead in cosmetics, including lipstick,” the FDA said on its website.

In a letter to the FDA last week, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics countered that “lead builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels”…

Exposure to lead can cause learning, language and behavioral problems in children and has been linked to lower IQ; exposure in pregnant women can interfere with development of the fetus.

Am I the only one who finds themselves comparing this description of lead to gluten? Gluten symptoms are often known to accumulate after repeated exposure. Celiac children can have learning, behavior and developmental issues, even up to Autism-like symptoms. Celiac can cause infertility in women. To a Celiac, gluten is every bit as dangerous as lead, though of course in a different way.

The “Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” has been fighting for the FDA to eliminate lead in cosmetics for years, but the FDA is still finding trace amounts of lead in our makeup products. I wonder how long it would take for the FDA to require gluten to be labeled, considering how long it’s taking for them to take lead seriously? Especially considering that even less people are affected by gluten then by lead? Hmmmm…